1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Internet facsimile apparatuses and relay apparatus selection methods.
2. Description of the Related Art
An Internet facsimile apparatus is a new facsimile apparatus provided with functions of converting image data to a file accompanying the mail and transmitting/receiving it over a computer network, a typical example of which is the Internet (hereinafter simply referred to as xe2x80x9cnetworkxe2x80x9d).
The Internet facsimile apparatus is capable of carrying out usual facsimile communications over a Public Switched Telephone Network (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cPSTNxe2x80x9d), and therefore it also functions as a relay apparatus between a computer network and PSTN.
When transmitting an image to a facsimile apparatus connected to the PSTN, transmitting the image over a network using the image data transmission function by E-mail including accompanying files and relay function can drastically reduce communication costs compared to transmitting data only over the PSTN.
To determine the relay apparatus, there is actually no other way than the user directly specifying it for each data transmission or registering the most suitable relay apparatus beforehand. However, if, for example, it is the first time the user communicates with that recipient, it is quite difficult and troublesome to select the nearest relay apparatus. Still worse if communicating with a recipient abroad.
Such inconvenience is an obstacle to spreading comfortable facsimile communications using the functions of Internet facsimile apparatuses to the fullest.
A first objective of the present invention is to provide an Internet facsimile apparatus enabling automatic selection of a relay apparatus suitable for a last destination.
A second objective of the present invention is to provide a relay apparatus selection method enabling automatic selection of a relay apparatus suitable for a last destination.
Taking notice of the fact that a telephone number contains information (identifier and ID number) that identifies the country, district, city, etc., the present invention registers telephone number data containing geographical ID information in a storage means beforehand, compares the telephone number of the recipient with the registered telephone number data, detects points which agree between them and finds the address of the relay destination i.e. a relay apparatus from the detection result. In principle, it is desirable to use as the relay apparatus, an Internet facsimile apparatus installed in the same district as that for the recipient apparatus.
At this time, if additional information such as the performance of the relay apparatus is registered together, it is possible to automatically obtain the address of the relay apparatus that will function as the relay apparatus by taking into account the performance of the relay apparatus, etc. This improves the usability for the user.
The aforementioned objects can be achieved by an Internet facsimile apparatus, having: first communication means for carrying out facsimile communications over a PSTN; second communication means for transmitting images over a computer network; and relay apparatus selection means for automatically selecting a relay apparatus based on the telephone number of the recipient.
The aforementioned objects can be achieved by an Internet facsimile apparatus, which has a function of carrying out facsimile communications over a PSTN as well as a function of carrying out facsimile communications over a computer network, and is capable of converting the image data format to send the data as E-mail. The apparatus having: a telephone book data memory storing telephone number data including the country identifier of the terminal belonging to the PSTN; a relay apparatus data memory storing at least the telephone number data and address data of the relay apparatus which belongs to both the PSTN and the computer network, and has a communication relay function; collation means for collating the telephone number of the recipient entered with the telephone number data stored in the telephone book data memory, confirming that the telephone number data contain at least data that can be assumed to correspond to the telephone number entered and acquiring the confirmed telephone number data; search means for comparing the district identifier information of the obtained telephone number data with the corresponding identifier information of the telephone number data stored in the relay apparatus data memory, and acquiring, if there is matched identification information, the address data of the relay apparatus having as its telephone number the matched identifier information as the address of the relay apparatus candidate; and transmission means for transmitting E-mail obtained by converting image data format to one of relay apparatus candidates.
The aforementioned objects can be achieved by a relay apparatus selection method for an Internet facsimile apparatus to transmit image data to its recipient over a computer network, a relay apparatus connected to this computer network and a PSTN sequentially. The above method having registering the telephone number, address and performance information of the relay apparatus in memory beforehand; comparing the district identification information of the telephone number of the recipient with the district identification information of the telephone number of the relay apparatus, examining whether the corresponding identifier matches or mismatches and storing the address of the relay apparatus as a relay apparatus candidate if there is at least one matched identifier; and selecting one of the relay apparatus candidates and acquiring the address of the relay destination.
The aforementioned objects can be achieved by an image communication system wherein a network facsimile apparatus transmits image data to its recipient over a communication route including a computer network, relay apparatus connected to this computer network and PSTN. The above method having a storage apparatus storing the telephone number, address and performance information of a relay apparatus installed on the communication route; and a relay apparatus selection apparatus installed on the communication route which compares the district identification information of the telephone number of the recipient with the district identification information of the telephone number of the relay apparatus, examines whether the corresponding identifier matches/mismatches, and stores, if there is at least one identifier, the address of the relay apparatus as a relay apparatus candidate and outputs one of the stored addresses as the relay address.
According to the present invention, it possible to send E-mail by automatically obtaining the relay address. Thereby, a simple way of making use of low-cost facsimile transmission using a network facsimile apparatus is provided. The use of telephone number information also helps reduce the amount of information and avoids the possibility of extremely increasing the size of the apparatus.